Italian Song

I found this remix of a song called Yolanda Be Cool - We No Speak Americano. The video is hilarious...The singers seem to be so happy and enthu. Uplifting :-)

The original is on a different level, much better and even more entertaining ! Highly recommended

Renato Carosone - Tu Vuò Fa' L'Americano

Seems that this is NOT italian but some language spoken Naples, Italy. I imagine Don Corleone dancing for this song.

CWG and Cricket

Was it right to have a cricket series amidst the CWG ??

Cant the cricketers stay away from a little limelight and give other sports some chance ??

The sports markets aren't perfect yet.. so it needs some support someway..

Political Drama

whats happening in namma naadu.. karu naadu ??

another drama??

every year there is some dissidence, some coup, some no-confidence motion..etc etc ..

the only thing that is stable and growing is the corruption level.... and the business in the resorts of the neighboring states

idu copy !!!!

Identify the copy .... from the original ...

Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre.

Finally I finished reading this magnificient book.

Here is a review of the book - Freedom at Midnight - Review

Dear Zachary

I had discovered an keyboard artist called Money Mark and I was listening to his songs. One such haunting and sad song was Color of the Blues which has a Beatlesque melody. However the video aroused my curiousity. It showed some random family snaps, of some 2008 documentary called Dear Zachary.

I read about the documentary some days ago, and it is still lingering in my mind. I think I shed a tear just by reading abt it. DO NOT READ IT. Try to get the movie. Really affecting. I have not watched this documentary but still I am sure it will have a powerful impact. Highly recommended documentary, really depressing story. Here is a trailer of Dear Zachary

Shankar

Ananth talks about Shankar in this article after 20 years since Shankar Nag passed away. The final accident.

It just offers an insight on the political views of the brothers.

Brilliant.

GM .. wassup with CWG

Now , along with the usual Good morning salutations, someone always asks about "whats up with CWG" .. two weeks ago the answer would be "dont worry, things will fall in place".. now its like "you still care??"..

watched Dabaang over the weekend.. just showed how much masala we lacked in bollywood since srk/aditya chopra unleashed DDLJ.. a nice break from the exotic foreign locations, designer clothes, Hinglish etc etc etc..

In my dream yesterday, Suresh Kalmadi had made an appearance. He was playing the saxophone. Then in the next scene, it becomes a pungi .... Inspired by the dream, I present you this high technology graphic.

Snakes are found at the CWG Village.

sweet memories

God knows - Mando Daio
Music Video which looks like a home video :-)

A thought

Alexander the Great was a great Leader. Not much of a master strategist. Leadership is about belief and emotion : Perhaps not much about logic.

At the height of his power, Alexander the great, the undisputed master of the known world (at that time) would still draw his sword first at the beginning of the war and his horse(s) would charge in the front and lead his men to the war. Alexander felt that he could not ask his men to risk their lives unless he was willing to demonstrate by his actions that he had complete confidence in the outcome.

The sight of Alexander charging forward so excited and motivated his soldiers that no force on earth could stand before them..A leader is able to inspire the "fire to do" in others.

That kind of confidence make men believe in the leader.

I am not back from any soft skill training, but this is inspirational.

CWG

First of all, India scores very poor in the infrastructure department. Taking CWG 2010 to be hosted in India, was quite a challenge. And then corruption at various levels has just provoked everybody.

Now dog faeces was found in the CWG Village (just like any other village in India) and then this and this.

Really embarrassing and bad news. We have spoilt our image due to corruption. Shame on the organizers for spoiling India's image.

Which Sunday Morning do you like ?

Sunday Morning (1995) No doubt (The first sunday morning I heard, it is hard)
Sunday Morning (2004) Maroon 5 Song (Beginning is really good, but then it loses steam)
Sunday Morning (1967) by Velvet Underground (Heard this recently )

I like Velvet Underground version - very lullaby-ish : Andy Warhol's group....

newS

I hate the 24-hour story broadcasting in the disguised NEWS form from Star News. I bet it is no different from the other channels in India.. In emulating BBC, CNN etc these guys have gone whacky.. not to be said that CNN, BBC themselves can do 24h * 365 days of quality news..

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/10/us/10media.html?_r=1&hp

illustrates how things are blown out of proportion by media..

I miss prime-time news .. i do not know anymore where to catch this...as a kid we used to tune to DD twice in a day in the night for the Vartegalu and English News (dint care much about the Hindi thing)... and as we grew up the frequency increased to add one in the morning and one more in the night.. but now its there all the time.. which suckssss... to much data and much less information and no analysis...

Chinese Influence

Its been no secret that China is ploughing through its way in South Asia, building strategic ties with India's neighbors. Its association with Pakistan is well known for a long time, so is its relationship with the JUNTA. And now its flexing its muscle in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

With a bank balance of $2.4 trillion.. (its literally bank balance for China), it seems to be splurging (in local currency terms) in the Indonesian ocean. The influence is just on infrastructure it seems to be entering the political minds as well..

Sri Lankan president extends grip on power

By Jane Cowan

Updated 8 hours 15 minutes ago

The Sri Lankan president will extend his grip on power after the country's parliament voted to amend the constitution.

In what critics describe as "the last nail in the coffin" of Sri Lankan democracy, the country's parliament passed a constitutional amendment abolishing two-term presidential limits.

The changes also loosen rules designed to prevent the politicalisation of the police and the judiciary.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa was re-elected in January after the government won the 25-year-old civil war against the Tamil Tigers.

He can now stand for re-election in 2016.

Mr Rajapaksa is popular with Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority but critics have accused him of stifling dissent.

He had already been accused of ignoring the rule of law and jailing opponents.

Other changes empower him to appoint top judges and other public officials unfettered by any legal veto.

Mani Ratnam made Ravana and revived the trend ;-) and now it looks like Ramayana will repeat all over again..

Looks like a new Lankeshwar in the making..

Wisdom

I was walking past the ABB compound near office in the evening hour, sunset hour. The moment I walked past a lamp post (which was very close to my head) it switched on. It sort of looked like a Halo.

Nirvana near the ABB compound. Enlightened. It was like the Billie Jean video.

Heart sutra (contd)

Here is a meaning of the heart sutra. [Emptiness]

While some random Youtubing, I stumbled upon this surreal buddhist chant called "Heart Sutra". It seems it is a Sanskrit sutra composed by a Chinese Monk. The rendition is "very chinese" but the music is really relaxing. The meaning is too complex to decipher. Just wondering how people in those days used to think so much about Philosophy.

Check out the Heart Sutra by Imee Ooi.

Under/Over Paid?

In comparison to many services which are regarded not so sophisticated, a professional working in MNC/ bank/ conslutancy seems to be grossly underpaid in Hong Kong and I suppose its the same in any big cities.. Consider this

the average salary for an MBA + 2 years exp/ IT guy with 7-8 exp/ investment analyst with 4-6 years exp in HK is around 60,ooo HKD / month which works out to $300/hour for 22 days work and 9 hours/day (many work much more than this)..

and now consider this..

1 hour Mandarin class - $500

1 hour English class - $500

45 mins personal fitness/yoga/blah blah instructor - $500 - $1000

1 hour Massage service - $200 - $1000

Relocation (2 guys working for an hour) - $1700 or $ 850/hour per person..

party planner - should be super duper expensive..

part-time professional maid - $300/hour..

somethings really seem to be way out of proportion and some other things seem to be highly underpaid..

cleaners in restaurants - $16/hours

dish washers - $18/hour

servers - $25/hour

and the hotel industry and the rest. employee association are lock heads over a $33/hour minimum wage bill.. apparently they are now stuck between $27- $30/hour...

wtf

No time to pause on rate hike yet

http://www.livemint.com/2010/08/22215134/No-time-to-pause-on-rate-hike.html?h=D

I was going through this article today on rate hike and inflation, but the problem (inflation) and the popular solution in India (rate hike) and elsewhere in the world has been bothering me for a long time, and as late as yesterday night..

If Price is a equation of supply/demand, shouldn't supply be addressed to control inflation rather than demand through credit for a country like India which is still at the development phase ??

Clearly, we do not produce much of anything, import huge quantities through traders (almost everything), much of which is hoarded most of the time, with exorbitant duties (the total duties on any product in India can reach 25% of the value easily) to benefit a few communities who monopolize manufacturing by intricately teaming up with politicians and setting beneficial policies.

It is so strange the world's biggest steel producer doesn't have a plant in India even though steel demand is expected to increase or is required for the massive infrastructure overhaul. 80% of the country's oil is imported (know the talk of low reserves, but what about low exploration). Coal imports hit a new high of 70 million tonnes last year (even though we have the 4th largest coal reserve), nearly 2/3rds of all the chemicals are imported into India and so on and so forth... obviously with the world demand increasing the prices of a lot of products which are imported in India tend to rise, and the country has to bear the price burnt...

India is one of the highest interest rate countries in the world.. they should certainly have a re-look at creating a low interest rate environment for industries to produce more.. and cater more to the demand.. rather than increasing interest rates and curtailing demand...

no idea if the above make sense.. but till then lets tighten the screw on interest rates...

P == NP ?

Lots of literature has been written over it. Scientist Vinay Deolalikar has claimed P != NP.

Of course people have been really hungry over this problem. Let us wait and watch what happens.

Meanwhile there is a joke doing the rounds : P == NP for N = 1. I would strongly agree with that.

Bullet Santi

Bullet Santi is a simple yet effective innovations from one of the brilliant yet practical brains of India. Looking at these innovations, I sometime wonder as the what the heck am I doing crunching numbers on a spreadsheet..

anyway not to take the credit away from "Bullet" here.. the things I could most associate about "Bullet" before this was

a. the character called "Bullet Basya" from the movie CBI Shankar.. though the movie and the character name sounds cheesy, its one of the great thrillers of all time..

b. Kumar's bullet.. though Avinash had one before Kumar, Kumar's transformation to Bullet made it more memorable..

Jugaad : The best Mobile App ever..

Move over the Apple/ android apps.. here is one of the best innovations

http://economist.com/blogs/babbage/2010/08/jugaad

fitness

after a lot of deliberation overnight (during the sleep as well in form of nightmares), I have decided to start attending the boxing classes in the gym.. there are several reasons to it.. but certainly the aim is not to challenge Joe Frasier..

a. classes starts at 7:30 pm and lasts till 8:30 pm... giving enough space in the changing rooms/showers.. (other classes start and end on the hour)

b. probably will pick up some defensive skill over 3-6 months..

c. will not get bored as in the case of DUMB bells.

d. last but not the least, need not wear sneakers..

the whole purpose of publicly announcing it is to stick to the plan..

on the contrary I might end up like Indian politicians with announcements before the polls and slumber after the polls..

a word of caution to myself - i need to make sure i don't get injured.. my back pain has been the biggest nemesis to ACTIVITY and the greatest friend to "COUCH POTATO"...

of high military spending and poor infrastructure..

Annually both Pakistan and India spend anywhere between 2- 4% of the GDP on defence. This has been going on for the past 63 years and given the state of affairs will probably go on to reach a century and probably can even strike triple century..

the total amount would probably run to trillion dollars which mainly benefit the western defence organizations contributing to their respective GDPs. While India/Pak and other developing/underdeveloped nations (african, south american etc) keep bickering and diverting money to defence projects, the lack of basic infrastructure leads to massive destructions YoY (earthquakes, floods, typhoons and other natural disasters) both in terms of human life lost and damage to the GDP...

though corruption consumes more amount than the defence budget in most of these countries.. it might be a good option to just bluffing about having nuclear arsenal and cutting back on defence spending.. somehow nuclear weapons have really been the real preventer of World war 3...

food binge..

during the last two weeks, the stomach has crunched through the globe, with a great tour of Asia.. while during the first week it was constrained to China-Shanghainese.. Sichuanese, Ningbo and Yangzhou cuisine.. it got liberated during the weekend through Burger King at the Shanghai airport.. (almost dying for non-Chinese food) and went on a wild ride...

over the next three days, i was relieved to have some good Vietnamese and great home cooked food..

starting Tuesday the culinary adventure took great strides.. starting with some french and Shanghainese on tuesday, English Curry buffet (was a pain getting thru) and local hong kong cuisine on Wednesday, some great pan-Asia and Indian on Thursday , with Chinese and Thai on Friday, No wonder corporate trainings are a real pain on the stomach and the eyes, which have to fight to be awake post lunch..

the weekend went down with some awesome food again.. Ragi dose on Saturday, followed by Japanese for lunch.. Sunday started with great Akki rotti, followed by a mexican lunch and "anna saaru" for dinner ..

The following would be the ratings in descending order of liking

1. Akki rotti

2. Anna Saaru

3. Chinese fried rice (the best I have had in Hong Kong till date)

4. Fried Garoupa with Cashew nuts

5. Sashimi

6. Fajitas

7. local Canton food ( the atmosphere was like VV puram)

8. Ningbo

9. good old thai

10. Burger King (just for the break it provided)

end result .. 2 pounds++, but no regrets at all..

Happy Independence day

miss the feeling of independence day/ republic days back from the school days..

One of these days NSN will be shifting to Manyata Tech Park and I will be leaving this Infantry Road Office. We go to the North of Bangalore. 30km from my house. Far journeys. Will not think about that now. I tell my mind, to take things one at a time. I'm thinking about what I'll miss....Short 2 wheeler journeys. Going everyday in front of Vidhana Soudha.

Seeing the common junta. Manyata is a "Tech park" with people wearing ID tags. Here, at Infantry Road, it was a pleasure to just walk out of the building and get some good filter coffee and good darshini food. 2 people come to my mind when I think of people whom I see everyday while going to office.

Just in front of the Bangalore High Court, a lady sells buttermilk and flavored milks under an umbrella. She looks somewhat like Sudha Murthy. Was just wondering she must have some financial crunch to work at that age....She was not to be seen for a week....Then she returned yesterday - with her hair dyed. Must have gone to a marriage to some other town.

There is one more character who stands in front of SP Road, dressed like Jesus. People put coins into his hand. And then there is a car with a sticker "The Power of NOW" which sometimes charges me up as a motivational statement.

Hmmm....Change is essential in life.

Inception

Finally got to saw the movie. Took a half day leave (bunked office ;-)..Had not used that word for probably a decade ) and saw it in the theatre.

Interesting movie. Generally audience snores while the actors act. Here the audience see the actors snoring away and still walk back dazed.

Here is a good explanation I got regarding the movie. Reminds me of OSI Layers.

Time and Memory

Time and Memory are certainly inversely proportional.. As time passes we forget things, and in most cases as in India we forgive them as well.. a few exceptions were the Jessica Lal's case and to an extent the Narmada valley protests...

a long list of forgotten things can be associated with the Congress party. They make sure it is done so.. The same will be done with the Common Wealth Games corruption, as would be Lalit Modi... they seem to be systematically attacking the BJP and making them weaker.. while they make every effort to implicate mayawati.. they seem to be forgiving everything associated with Pawar , Lalu Prasad and A Raja

the Congress(I) will eventually be the only standing party in India with a sucky opposition (when was the last did we hear of BJP/CPI).. the dynasty rule will continue (not just the gandhi family, dynasty politics is just the heart and soul of Congress).. and where is the Crown Prince Rahul Gandhi.. ??

Anyways, looks like CWG is something not to look forward.. Still not sure how Kalmadi can't own up responsibility for anything... well again its a Congress legacy..

dont they get tired of the scams they originate..???

The trees and duets

Nowadays the original Bollywood heart and soul is removed from the Bollywood songs.
Songs post the A R Rahman are about "collaborations". Out of the 5 songs, there are about 10 singers - Which is good thing, I agree.

But the good old days where the hero had one voice for all the 5 songs is conspicuously missing. There is no one like a Kumar Sanu or a Udit Narayan or a (ummm whatwashername??) Alka Yagnik. Kumar Sanu was good. Now he has become antique value, if you ask me.

We have songs like this one which I can't understand....Is it really Hindi (or urdu or punjabi or mix) ?

But if I listen to a song like this one or this one there is a bollywood soul to these songs (the duets) and the lyrics are easy as well. The songs now are somewhat different(gosh! I'm sounding old), if you understand what I mean. Good if you purchase a CD of Rs25, you can put it in your car, and remember those student days.

chaddi

Its quite strange to see 3 girls in skimpy tops and 6 inches shorts/skirts dancing with guys wearing denim and full length jackets (golmaal)... the same thing repeats on the aussie beach, though better this time at least one of them is into shorts ( arshad warsi), while SAK sticks to denim pants ( salaam namaste).. even in the deserts sallu bhai and his younger brother prefer denims and leather jackets while ms Kaif is expected to wander around in a white one piece dress.

cut to five years forward, the pant craziness never goes, rather the shorts phobia among bollywood men doesnt go away.. so even as deepika and lara stick to skimpy 2 piece bikinis dancing in italian beaches, akshay and the other chap stick to pants... how ridiculous it looks should be watched rather than being told..

why is the SHORTOPHOBIA so strong ? is it because they are still hairy on the limbs while they have managed to shave the rest of their body.. or they are chastised by their mums/wives exposing their lower limbs.. or is it plainly vulgar (never mind the tummy exposure)

its time that these guys start sporting the shorts (one up to knee length and not the shorter one) and lead the indian mass to adopt the same, and this help them survive the scrotching heat.. and preventing someone from dying in the denim..

the phenomenon is no different among the indians in hk.. their limbs are fully clad even when they just shopping around wet markets/grocery stores/ or dining at an al fresco.. ( under temperatures of 35+ and humidity of 70%++.).

there is certainly a shorts phobia among indian men (both the longer and shorter form).. meanwhile leaving the burden to the fairer sex

LOOT mentality

It is deeply ingrained in the system. Make money wherever possible, and store it for the progeny, for them to rut, rot, burn and spend.. its been there since days of Mahabharata and the 3000 years of tradition isn't going away easily. It doesn't matter which scheme it is.. there is a scam impending every where. The range is just astonishing..

MIGs, Tankers, fertilizer, cattle food, PDS rice, wheat, oil, coffers, guns, armaments, mid day meal, common wealth games, military winter wear, iron ore, edible oil, sugar, lpg, kerosene, spectrum and the list goes on and on and onnnnnnnnnnn.............

And it seems the grand old party leads the race and is the great grand father of all the scams...

the LOOT is worse than what the British looted during the Raj..

At the Box Office..

Its completely dark outside at 4pm.. as the black rain lashes hong kong, making it tempting to skip the gym plans ( this skips due to the flimsiest of reasons and doesnt require a black rain) and go on board with some chai, pakodas and movies, with the latter two needing some resource stretching..

its been a good run of movie watching lately, though the movies themselves werent that fun.. following movies were conquered or they managed to conquer me

On Screen

Inception - A preview show (my first) was worth it... quite good..but needs a second screening on the home theater, to pause, question debate and resolve.. and if possible a direct line to Nolan..

DVD

Housefull - ignoring it completely would have been better rather than just ignoring it for a few months

I hate luv stories - doesn't deserve to make money.. have to support Shoba de on this one.. starting to dislike Sonam Kapoor, never like Imran khan much.... K JO is creating mini K JOs

TV

De Dana Dhan - cant watch too much of AK.. wound up midway..

Die Hard - nice to see old style hardcore action

Die Hard 2 - too much of Bruce Willis

Vantage Point - good to recollect the movie

Twilight - no comments

Looking forward

On Screen

Wallstreet 2

DVD

Wallstreet

Once upon a time ....

Tere Bin Laden

Meanwhile on the road ....

a bus breaks down amidst traffic chaos. Some, (rather, most) BTS buses do not have the blinking parking lights . So they use branches of trees to indicate they cannot continue further with the bus. If tree branches with leaves are sticking out of the bus windows, then the bus is resting itself amidst the cacophony of horns. The bus is one with Mother Nature with branches protruding near its unnaturally small mirror as well. It looks like a huge elephant with branches sticking all over its body, unable to move and contented with the traffic jam it has caused. So, we (the celebrated motorists of Bangalore) can understand the bus has broken down. Thumbs up!

This is a standard traffic rule, even the traffic police use this.

Life goes on, with tree branches and monkeys everywhere.

Recession Really???

how come consumers snapped up 1.7 million iphones (gen 4) withing 3 days and 300K ipads in the first day of sale. Worldwide ~3million ipads were sold in 3 months.. and if not for the antenna issues apple would have sold 10 million phones within a month...

who are these buyers?? how can they afford it?? is this really a recession binge?

Web 2.0

I hate Web 2.0++, is similar to I saying "I hate Love stories". The way Bollywood is plagued by "Luv stories" but still manages to limp across each year. Similarly, the US economy is entangled in Web 2.0 applications and is reeling under a spiraling economic down-trend . Having given away manufacturing in the last quarter of the past century, now the US looks like giving up hi-tech as well chasing the WEB mania. Technology today to large extent is confined to WEB apps and jazzy gadgets which look like decreasing individual productivity. The WEB passed its peak optimization levels a few years ago, and now its contribution is mainly towards making people lazier by the day.

Am not sure leading in web services would give them a long lasting competency. But with most of the VC funding/ brilliant minds entangled in the Web, its unsure how the US gets itself out as a leading economy (its similar to how the Europeans got entangled in the art, music, coffee and leisure culture)

How much of the WEB do you need??

Franz Schubert Trio

I came across a classical music piece called "Trio" by a German composer called Franz Schubert. It seems it was used in Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. Very swaying cello (or violin?) and somewhat familiar. Check this out :-

Schubert Trio

The law of diminishing returns

The first ice cream tastes great->highest return.
The second one ice cream tastes OK.
The third one ice cream tastes not so bad.
The fourth one ice cream tastes sick and makes you sick as well ->lowest return.

This is the law of diminishing returns as I read about sometime ago.The law of diminishing returns also holds good in case of pain as well.

The first sorrow makes you feel real bad. When you drenched off all your sorrow and cannot be morose further,it first becomes a "philosophical laugh" (like the Mera Naam Joker's laugh). Even then if you keep experiencing pain, you feel nothing at all.

In case of achievement, I am not sure whether the law of diminishing returns holds. One achievement brings more encouragement. But of course, you are more bound to commit mistakes. After Hitler's anschluss of Austria, he was encouraged and Czech acquisition became a matter of urgency to Hitler. He wanted to finish that one off.

Octopus consumption to go down

With the Octopus prediction of Spain winning bang on target, i guess the consumption of octopus in the world will go down.. the Koreans will mostly use it to predict the war than bbq the same .

btw, spain played well, but i want to see them score more goals in the finals.. and avoid those tense moments as they had against germany

Spain deserves to win the world cup..but the problem is that Spain might pledge the world cup to raise some money to some rich countries which cannot afford to win through playing ( the Chinese are already talking to the Spanish authority on this one)

4 year BS

National College Basavanagudi is starting a 4 year course for science called as Bachelor of Science (BS). BS in physics , Nanotechnology and the like.

There was a big rush to the applications for BS @ NCJ as I passed through Gandhi Bazaar yday : It seems the US universities ask for a 4 year course in Science for MS in Physics etc. So, Indian applications for Sciences in the US universities might pick up according to me.

But it is a good move from the state to have a 4 year science course. I think they should have some courses in Photonics and Solar Energy to fuel research in these areas. I also heard IISc would be starting BS course. But no idea abt that.

Symbiosis

The world is like a give<->take place.You give and you take from many people. You are valuable as long as you can give....You need to give more and more.

If you take more and more and give nothing, your influence-circle keeps on diminishing and in the end, it comes to your immediate family/friends. They will tolerate you because there is no other option. This is the truth of life from my point of view, and everyone needs to realize it.

Current Music :Lou Reed - Wild side

Bio diversity

If you think at a macro level, bio diversity means many species can co-exist : Tropics and equatorial regions are bio diversity hot spots and Ecuador is one such nation.

But here is an interesting situation in Ecuador :

Beneath the lush green equatorial forest, there are nearly 1 billion barrels of crude oil.

How can the Ecuador government resist this black gold extraction and making the economy prosperous ?

Check out the slide show and read this article on Ecuador's forest

Books I'm reading

For the past few days, I am reading :-
a) Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer
b) Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre.
in parallel.

Both books describe the 1930s and 1940s and opposite philosophies , I would say. Too early to judge/compare these books , right now but my thoughts are now on Gandhi.

Some parts of "Freedom at Midnight" evoke strong emotions, but some parts of the book (if very credible) just describe Mahatma Gandhi's very complex character. I just cannot understand why he did what he did. Some of his actions represent what is called as the "conscience of india" . Deep down in our DNA I have seen many people (especially the older generation) who have that "sacrifice is everything in life" kind of attitude. But he is a leader who is more like a working class hero - who understood India so well!

The Third Reich , on the other hand (once again, if the book is very credible), describes the mind of a maniac. A military demagogue who is misled by some of the most cranky philosophies and blind patriotism is able to convey his strong emotions to his countrymen. But once again a great leader and a master strategist. We can learn quite a bit from this book.

Today, the heights of boredom have been reached at office. One of those days .... Wasting time seems the only thing which I've been doing since morning.

Pity. There is work to be done. But then I am just plugged off.

Current Music : Otis Redding - (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay

Sunday Morning.

Things to do. What else to do?

Things that are done.
Things that could be done.
Things that cannot be done.
Things that could be done.
Things that can't be undone.

It is so easy to say I am not responsible. Because if you have to say "I am responsible", you might have to say "I am irresponsible". - Stephen Covey

Current Music : No doubt - Sunday Morning.

The new Coke Ad

The new coke ad featuring Imran Khan and Kalki Koechlin had some really de ja VU kind of music. I had heard the riff somewhere. Sometime ago....

Firstly the song is an old song.....There is a remix version of the original Rafi Saab's rendition of Tumjho Mil gaye ho

Regarding the bass riff, it was one of Aqua's effort sometime ago , which did not feature their trademark cartoon feel - The code ad's riff is very similar to Aqua's Turn Back Time.. Listen to the bugle (or the clarinet or whatever wind instrument)....

But interesting remix...

It's official

I have completed the coursework for my Master of Computer Science degree at Illinois Institute of Technology - Specialization in Computer Networking And Telecommunications .

:-)

The results for my Spring 2010 are out, I did not get the best marks(screwed up the subject which I would have liked to do really well), but good enough to complete the course. phew. It is a tough course and it feels good to add 2 years of academic education to your life. Would recommend this one to someone who is really motivated and would like to set their ass on fire even though work is piled up at office.

Now I will wait for the certificate. But as shown in 3 idiots, education is about the journey rather than the degree. MS was just like engineering, but a LOT more deeper. But definitely way better than the BE in terms of depth. To be frank it did take a toll on my weekends and I effortlessly get up at 3am these days. I bunked a few social gatherings (which have made the extended family angry), but seriously it is too much these days and I do not regret "not going" to a function AT ALL. Of course I will make up my absence and indifference and all that.

Steve Jobs and his thoughts on Adobe Flash :
Thoughts on Flash.

Is really iPhone dictating the mobile market so much ? He is just bossing over Adobe. This is real ganchali

Once upon a time there was a boy who used to go to school. He was little different from the others. He was devout and pious. He used to smear a lot of vibhuti on his forehead, he practiced yoga early in the morning in the valleys and used to run to school. He also wore the rudrakshi mala. The other boys ridiculed him.

They would ask him what would he do when he grew up. With a straight face he would reply, I will be a swami one day.

Then one day, he visited the village tent. He saw a movie in the tent. The heroine wore a tribal dress and showed some subtle expressions on screen and his life was changed. His textbooks always used to have fotos of gods. Now came the foto of the heroine of the movie. The gods and the heroine. Both were his favorites. He had told his friends that he will meet her at any costs.

Then one day, after his tenth exams, he left his town forever. He was away for 2 years. Rumors told that he traveled North and met the great rishis and the agoris in the North. He began to "radiate with enlightenment" [1] - He became really famous. He had a clear vision - and a belief about his spiritual influence on thousands of people.

Meanwhile the heroine of who wore the tribal dress suffered personal life problems and she became unacceptable to the item number hungry audience. Her second marriage was also unhappy. She struggled with her career and life....But a strange thing happened.

And the boy cam back as Swami Nithyananda. He was rich and powerful. With his grit and determination he won his high school sweetheart- The actress Ranjitha and he went on to fool and rule his followers.

DMB

Nostalgia .... late 2003-early 2004. Hosur Road , traffic jam - red signal - Oasis Green Maruti 800 - Gloomy mind all the time and Dave Matthews Band in the stereo. Take the left hitting the throttle and singing aloud....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=380D8-IzLB0

Feel like laughing.

Those days!

Doesn't Dave Matthews look like Tom Hanks ?

Voice #1:
Here I am - this is me...There's no where else on earth I'd rather be

Voice #2:
BohLing BohLing BohLing BohLing

Voice #3:
Daytha Daytha Daytha

Voice#4:
And theeee And theeee And theeee And theeee

Integrating iPhone's applications on the iPad is a visionary idea. iPad (or atleast its clones) is here to stay. iPad is more of a "application consuming gadget" more than a "application developing gadget". So you will still have your laptop, but you will have a networked gadget.

The best is that it is powered by 3G(what we are working on ;-) ). 3G and LTE are technologies which are just PERFECT access technologies for this. Because there is limited browsing which you can do with a Mobile Phone.

Watch the video here :

A look at Apple's iPad with David Carr of 'The New York Times' and Walt Mossberg of 'The Wall St. Journal.

Does anyone have any other opinion ? I have read a couple of news sites and I like the concept. But not sure until someone has really used this gadget.

Intelligentsia

Shashi Tharoor is one of those intelligentsia whom I really do not connect with. Others in this group are Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, Girish Karnad, MS Sathyu, Rahul Bose, Nandita Das and all those types of people.

They are all intelligent, I agree. But somehow I get repelled by these sort of people. They speak their mind, they land themselves in trouble. The world is divided when it listens to these people - People are enraged, some people appreciate, some people (like me are amused). Sumne mai mele iruve bittkondu vaddadodu

Shashi Tharoor might be a prolific person and an exceptional worker, but the twitter bird has shot galeej droplets on his face and left him searching for his hanky. I particularly did not like his opinions about RK Narayanan which I read sometime ago.

Nonetheless, two individuals (Tharoor and Modi) with inflated egos meet and sparks are meant to fly.

Dido

There is a Dido song which I listened sometime ago. The tune was distinctly Indian and now I found it on Youtube.

The video is interesting. A lady taxi driver in Mumbai in moods of Loneliness and contemplation. Not sure if there are any lady taxi drivers in Mumbai. The actress is a brilliant actress - Shahana Goswami. Her role was so small in the movie "Rock On!" but her performance stayed.

Nonetheless check out Dido's video with an Indian touch :-
Dido - Let's Do The Things We Normally Do

Tehelka v/s TAAQ

Very unlikely opponents, right ?
Snippets

Here is what Tehelka says abt Indian Rock Musicians :

Indian rock music, fundamentally, is rooted in affectation, not origination....Our homegrown rock is almost exclusively upper middle-class territory — and its practitioners don’t seem to have much on their minds. Often bankrolled by indulgent parents, and decked out in the requisite accoutrements and peripherals — a tattoo or two helps —

And TAAQ :

how do Indian bands approach songwriting, where do they learn to play their instruments, where do they rehearse? How do they finance gear, studio time and production efforts? What level of initiative does it take for a band to bag concert dates at Hard Rock Cafe or Blue Frog, or plan a five-city tour? Or to cut an album and market it independently?

...Perhaps Sidhu might want to consider exploring these areas instead of expending two thousand words on a subject he believes is not worth writing about. That's laughable.

A very good website

Check out this site :-

www.cheervoucher.com

It is an application that is able to send Gift Vouchers directly to a Mobile Phone and the receiver can go directly to the store and redeem it.

It's catered to both, people gifting each other within India ... and NRIs sending gifts back home to India.

The best part is that, it has also Gifting Partners :-)

It is developed by my friend and ex-colleague from Infy, Rohit Rawal.
Really good idea...

Hogenakkal random pic.

Had been to Hogenakkal Falls. Drove abt 194 km from Bangalore. Electronic City road was simply awesome ... Swift flew down the National Highway. Toll Bridge to E-City is kickass. But the fare is pretty high (38 Rs.)

I had taken one of my Finnish friends (from Oulu) there .... It happened to be the hottest day in the past 25 years according to the meteorology department.

There was water. But I was really exhausted ...Taking the boat ride was wonderful experience.

Got an Head Molish and a shoulder massage. And then had Vegetable Hyderabadi Biriyani back in Bangalore. Nights are really hot and spicy food is delicious but it is a no-no.

Today morning as I drove through the traffic, I landed below the mysore road flyover to see lots of red spluttered all over the road. Was it a dog ? Was it a cat ? As I was about to go "eww" I realized it was pieces of Water Melon.

Summer is very hot this time. I do not see any mangoes or jackfruits my two favorite fruits. Not even in the Ganesha fruit juice stalls - nowhere. Power cuts are everywhere. Every night I am tired of attending Mosquito-Concerts.

People are going on an tree cutting rampage with 210 trees (all of them over 150 years of age) being chopped to the ground. Really, I cursed the guy who approved this felling of trees. And there is this really beautiful painting (on the wall) done by the street artists. I see and enjoy the detailed mix of the greens and yellows of the oil colors used as I ride to office. Today, on that painting one stupid f*ck is urinating on the painting. And then later, near the high court garden which has many floral parks, I see petty florists stealing the flowers and putting it in their bags (the security guards are nowhere to be seen).

No point yelling here in the blog. Somebody should take the action. Not sure whether there is a shortage of public toilets or is it plain Indian bad habit.

A nice romantic song

Fastball is a very Beatlesque band. And one of my curent favorites of Fastball is the song Fastball-You're an Ocean.

If you liked Fastball, try Out of My head and The way by Fastball.

The lady in the song fits the lyrics very well ;-)

Google puts the Ball in the Chinese court

Well, finally there is one corporation which has to guts (stupidity in someone else's sense) to take on the mighty China. Google, starting this week has begun uncensored search by routing all the traffic to Google hong kong website. Though this is a bold move, the outcome for sure is known, Google hong kong will be blocked (working as of now).

What prompted Google to take a massive step in fighting against the laws and policies in China?

1. Was the attack on its website so bad? Did it not have the tech prowess to withstand such attacks.

2. Did Google realize that their revenues from the Chinese market will be capped to < $1billion (currently around 60% of that), even though they have captured 1/3rd of the market and were the fastest growing company in China

3. Or did Google decide enough is enough. We are an American company with great values and we need to maintain those values

4. Or is it that the US govt is twisting Google's arm (in a suttle way) to increase it pressure on China

whatever it is the latest move will be considered as Google taking head-on even though the re-routing is complied by the law..

i really dont think any company in the manufacturing sector/finance/other services could have taken such a move.. and clearly Google is showing it has the balls to do it

ps - apologies for the title being so sexist.. but it clearly conveys the message

Hair today

As a kid, one of the most loathed tasks was getting an haircut. I still recollect the burn the razor left on my neck, and the hard combings of my drunk barber during some of my juvenile nightmares

Coming back to the point, back then there was a lot of effort to keep your hairs from standing up. The usual ingredient used was Coconut oil, the more sophisticated being Brylcreem and the punishment for some kids used to be Castor oil..

20 years later, the creams and the gels are used to make the hair stand up. You go to sleep, ruffle your hair, wake up, see something standing and you carefully apply some gel to keep up the standing hair..

who cares for the short-term changes as it would eventually be "hair today gone tomorrow" .. (Credit goes to SP to pulling that one-liner) and most of us would be shaving the skull as well.

Q1 2010

its been a great and busy Q1 2010.. I have been traveling and working crazily and having much fun at the same time.. the only drawback has been that traveling takes you off the health targets quite a bit..

Shanghai, Fiji, Vancouver and with India lined up for Easter break, it has been quite good.. i will then follow up with Shanghai and India again mostly..

The alcohol is not something you appreciate too much after all the visits.. flight food is something you will detest (doesn't matter even if it is business class)..

the restaurant food has been great.. be it the Shanghainese cuisine, Sushis, Italian and Indian in Vancouver, western/Indian in Fiji.. and a lot of food in Hong Kong..

and the Bangalore food is just 15 days away now..

Absolutes

Are there absolutes in life? I am of the belief that there are no absolutes in life and decision making changes with circumstances.. People change and always change for the better

Yesterday while watching the Mahabharata (Draupadi vastraharana), I just wondered the level of dumbness the people in the courtroom carried .. be it the Pandavas, the Kauravas, Vidhura, the acharayas etc.. the biggest jerk seemed to be Bhishma.. who was bound by his bhishan pratigya - "the vow of life-long celibacy and of service to whoever sat on the throne of his father" (copied from Wiki).

Here was a guy who had the power to stop and probably kill all the warriors in the court in a minute but who let the atrocious act of disrobing Panchali, all for some stupid oath he had taken decades ago..

I need to read SL Byrappa's version of the same and see the difference in treatment, as the BR Chopra's version is certainly stupid..

Going back to India

after 2 months....phew it went like swooooosh. The winter was long and dark with one of the days at -31 degrees, the workload was on an all time high. Worked 6 out of the 8 weekends (sat &sun) and still there are issues creeping like snakes from everywhere. I have nothing to say , but I leave Finland dazed. Need a break. I wait for Early May.

the taxi driver ..

its always interesting to talk to Taxi drivers in a foreign country and it becomes more interesting talking to migrated Indian taxi drivers.

On my way back to the Vancouver airport, boarded into the Yellow cab and we headed towards the airport. They taxi guy started to speaking to his colleague in Punjabi.. and since Vancouver has many Punjabis I naturally assumed he was here for a long time and probably could have carried over carried over his family business.

We start to talk.. he checks where I am from.. when I say HK but Bangalore is my city.. he says I should be in IT.. I don't blame him.. and before I say anything he says.. California is better for IT than here.. ( I think over shit I should have called Richie.. 16 hours time lag between HK/SFO is not good..).. I was like hmm...aaa.. and then ask the akward question.. Are you from Vancover?

The next 15 mins the taxi guy talked and I listened.. he detailed me his journey to the west ..An an engineer with Computer programming skills he had flew into Canada looking for green pastures.. after 6 months of torturous job hunting .. (with work ex in India and skills sets in C++, Java etc).. he could not even land in a Data entry job.. Canadian job markets wasnt all that friendly to Indians back a decade ago..he explained.. after 6 months.. dude gets frustrated..gets drunk.. burns his certificates..and goes and gets a Truck driver license..

the next 4.5 years he drives all around NA to earn some money.. he says he was too ashamed to return to India broken.. though he dint tell and I think he messaged back home saying he was doing good in the IT world .. after 5 grueling years he settles down in Vancouver as a Taxi driver..

he further explains that back then Indian were considered illiterate in Canada as the majority of the Indians migrated had family connections who were flew in to work in farms and garages.. and he said that in an accented English.. (our conversation until now was in Hindi).. at the end he says its good that guys like you who have degrees and work in good jobs visit Canada .. he added that in the past few years the Indians migrating were more educated than he was and were landing into White collared jobs..

He ended saying that this helped raising the stature of Indians in Canada.. I dont know if the path he chose was right or wrong.. he made $35 on the journey today.. if he does 10 journey per day he makes 350 bucks or 4000 CAD / month.. thats a lot of money.. but could he have gone back and done better in India? is money the only motto he had? were his folks unforgiving if he had returned broken? or was he just too petrified of being a laughing stock??

what was the reason to become a truck driver who knows C++ and Java.. were there 10 sad stories behind every success story of an expat Indian.. i have heard that in NZ there are many instances of engineers and other indian graduates with masters ending as taxi drivers.... just had a first hand encounter with one today..

Thought for the day

It is easy to search god than to search hidden cameras
- Swami Nithyananda.

The guru and shishya are looking at the sky amidst the sea of endless snow.
Shishya : The sun is placed right. He is shining.
Guru : He is not very warm yet.
Shishya : Yes.
Guru : Be careful. The ice boulder on the slippery roof might disengage and fall on your head.
Shishya : Yes. But the squirrels are now seen and the morning birds have come back from the South. The sounds of the radio room and the footballer with locks will linger in my head for sometime. The place is interesting.
Guru : Ok. Do not double dare. Sometimes life can be unforgiving and merciless for fools. Fools are not always lucky.
Shishya : I need to test the degree of eelness in my personalty. But yes the wizard is waving the wand again. The businessman does not seem to be impressed.
Guru : Hohum

Ashrams/ Maths/ God Men..

The atrociousness continues..

26 kids,37 women die in ashram stampede - Kunda (Pratapgarh): In one of the worst stampedes in Uttar Pradesh,63 people 26 children and 37 women were trampled to death and more than 300 injured when volunteers at godman Kripaluji Maharajs ashram in Kunda used lathis to beat back the unmanageable crowds on Thursday.

Govt orders probe into godmans activities - The Karnataka government on Thursday ordered a probe into the land held by spiritual guru Swami Nityananda Paramahamsa following the revelation of video footage allegedly of him in a compromising position with a Tamil film actress.

the economic boom in India has created a new industry of godmen and their ashrams looting people in the pretext of spirituality and helping hard working souls to find a balance in their life..

a pattern

The alarm rings, and I snooze it.. and this repeats once more after 5 mins and on the third ring I reluctantly wake up. I see the wife still sleeping cozily. I get up envying her (she sleep 30-45 mins more than me as her office is comparatively closer and her working environment a lot more cooler), close the bedroom door, assure myself things will change the next year (i plan to retire for 3-4 months in 2011) and walk towards the kitchen.

I walk into the Kitchen, take the vessel (sometimes cleaned) wash it, pour some water from the tap and place it on the stove. Add two spoons of Sugar (sometimes need to refill the sugar bowl) and add 4 small spoons of tea and heat to the toilet. Finish brushing and the other job, I get back to Kitchen with shaving cream on my face. Have a glass of water, pour some milk(some times we are out of milk, when I curse the alcohol previous night) into the Tea, lower the flame and get back to shave. I shave, wash my face, go pour my tea and drop on the sofa.

The next 15-20 mins I switch between Bloomberg, star world and channel v. open the netbook and visit 'finance.yahoo.com' and check the company's stock price. Reaction varies based on stock price, and then visit bloomberg.com, in.rediff.com an find nothing's changed much in the world. (when I missed checking TV/News this sat there was earthquake in Chile and since we have an office in Chile it was a bad thing to miss)

finish my tea, head to the shower, sing some songs lousily, finish my shower, check my wardrobe as to whats ready to wear, finally search for a belt (brown or black whichever I get first) and head back to the living room where Haslinda Ahmed is excitedly narrating the 0.1% in Nikkei and how beautiful the morning is in Tokyo / Sydney/Singapore.. I look outside and HK looks Grey, as grey or greyer than Seattle.. I pick the shoes to match my belt.. pick my bags, phone, wallet and the door keys and remember I haven't had breakfast.. depending on the time decide to head to office or grab cornflakes/make some dosas/something else.. by this time wife has started her routine or if asleep I head back to the bedroom to kiss the wife a good bye.. and just sit there for 2-3 mins almost falling into sleep..

manage to wake up and head out of the apartment.. say "Jo San" (good morning) to the security gaurds and head towards the bus stop...

i do not see things changing much from the above pattern this year.. sometimes it might happen early or late.. sometimes in Shanghai or in Vancouver.. sometimes will have uppit/idli/avalakki for breakfast.. but except for those small vacations, this year is gonna be like this.. similar to last year......

Guru : So what do you say ?
Shishya : I am surprised - to say the least ... Pleasantly though :-)
Guru : Sometimes surprises come when you are least expecting it.

Your own - Personal Jesus

Troubled times and my personal jesus is inside me - Today. Really pushed to the corner....

Nice song in this beautiful lab. Lift up the receiver and I'll make you a believer.....I'll deliver....You know Im a forgiver....Reach out!

Hmm life goes on :-)

I don't have time to blog,

but I am just blogging now as I am listening to a wonderful song. Jeeva Veene. The way absence and dreams are portrayed are beautiful. Probably my favorite love song of all time. Aarti looks Wow in this ssong.

The big radio box , the staring at photo frame - Well this is at a different time than the ones which we are living.

Anyway, life is going on here in Oulu. Temperature was -29 to -13 degrees. Too busy with work here. Also trying some old and some new stuff here in Finland. Karhu, Karjala , Lapin Kulta and then here and there some wine and Czech draught ...hmmm.

I had something more to say.bt then, thats it


The guru and shishya get into the train.

Shishya : I am suprised that we are still in this train, Master.
Master : Patience Works. There is still some journey.
Shishya : Yes. But then, every dog has its day. But there are no dogs here.
Master : There is one dog.
Shishya : Yes. Wondering abt the dog. The dog has no bone, it's sad. People are moving too fast.
Master : Tuff times, eh ? Everything which has a beginning has an end.
Shishya : How will the end be ? I am confused and dazed.
Master : Ends may come and ends may go. Honesty pays.
Shishya : The honesty is that : I used to rule the world: Now, a Mango man. The man with no sh/n/g/f/ame
Master : The train is still speeding.
Shishya : The wizard weaves his hand. His legerdemain has traveled far and west.Pedro and Penelope welcome him....
Master : You look like you will explode.
Shishya : I think I was Alfred Nobel in my previous incarnation.
Master : Talk of this birth. Let us eat the ground nuts.
Shishya : Hmm ground nuts
Master : There is this elusive cone called "second chance".It is upto you to make it an ice cream cone or a pine cone.



Sherlock Holmes followed by 3 idiots

Well it was more like a witty James Bond with IQ of 150+ living on Baker street. But I quite liked the movie. If you are not a purist you will like this one. I went with an expectation that this would be similar to the TV adaptation of the Agatha Christie's Poirot. But Guy Ritchie's take on Sherlock Holmes is quite snazzy, suave and laced with humor. The background music is quite enchanting and grows on you. Wasn't surprised when the Iron man won the Globe.

Purists stick to the book.

3 Idiots.

Finally managed to catch this mega blockbuster, and it surely was entertaining (except for that song which starts "woh.. something").. very simplistic, but effective humor.. well the Chetan bhagat controversy ..hmmm .. though he is from hong kong i feel the ruckus wasn't that necessary (except if it was intended for some marketing purpose... )

i have missed some movies last year - shouldn't be repeating the mistake again...

When I hear

Turn the page from Metallica I did not know it was a cover. Bob Seger's original is more "from the heart" and soulful. But Metallica's cover is great too.

Check out Turn the Page from Bob Seger [Original] and Metallica's Cover of Turn the Page.

Both the songs have a very "desert road" feel.....

wow...Very nice ad .

The men and their invention
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdrLEYXAGzQ

Avatar

There were a lot of questions after watching AVATAR; But the following kept lingering until today

1. Wouldn't Terminator 2 in 3D IMAX be better than avatar??

2. Despite all the technology the mining team had and a multi-million work contract why didnt Jake have a sophisticated wheelchair?

3. Why couldn't the 3D frames be more comfortable and wearable?

Honestly I did not like the movie that much. Appreciate the technical masterpiece but the drama lacked punch

Surroundings

Two children gaze into the oblivion. The starer of the two children listens to 1916. See the sun rays. We are the system, we are the law. We are the cold. We are the dryness. Red spots on Mars...Everything changes , but everything is the same.

Pipes and structure charts glow in the lcd monitor. Headphones bark some old memorable songs. Mediocre intake. Fret fret fret until you are tired. Smile smile and keep it that way until the other person goes nuts figuring what's up to you. Don't try to cling to the past. Get thrown into new territories. Apply new rules to life and change the direction of the boat in the river of life. The worker leaves before the dawn. The guffaw man sits with a MS Word document open. The wizard is asleep. The crustacean loving bartender is asleep. The regular chef has shut his doors. The tiny is asleep. The self proclaimed, unsure, joker checks his attachments and smiles and types nonsense. He knows everyone is guilty but there is no one to blame. Work for a living or work for the red carpet?

One word of advice : Deal well with powerful people. Show them the finger.

mineral water / distilled water

the next time I hear this in a restaurant, I want to ask them back what did they use to cook or make the drink they just served it.. and i shall buy the same..

i just get irritated when being asked this question again and again and again.. if i really need a mineral water bottle would't I ask for one .. should i be reminded / pestered.. the order goes like
mineral water..
distilled water
tap water .. are u sure.. thats when the question should come .. what do you use to cook/ for the drink.. thats like an indirect finger isnt it?

As crazy as crazy as

Gold Spot - The Zing Thing

Reached Oulu

Back here in the arctic region and once again back to the real winter...Will be here for 2 months before returning to India.

moral sceince

During school days the only non-assessed subject was "moral science", a 45 mins class held once per week. And in our case by a Christian father teaching virtues.

This was a practice to instill Good behavior in the future citizens of the country. However, I always wondered (post school days) why it could not have been thought from a legal perspective. The essential subjects covered under moral science of theft, bribe, dowry, lies, multiple marriages, killings (murder), general harm to others, drug abuse etc are Criminal offences as per legal framework in India.

Would, telling students that apart from being morally correct, that most of the above are illegal and that the guilty would be subject to punishment by the government/police, be more helpful in developing a future responsible citizen?

certainly debatable, then I think students will be more inclined in learning the loop holes to get out of the legal framework??

Cover versions of Nouvelle Vague

Nouvelle Vague come up with cover versions which rival the original versions.

"This is not a love song" was a song from PiL (Public Image Ltd.). The song was a very 80s sounding song(at least to me- it sounded like a incessant shout).

Nouvelle Vague added a very classy touch. This version sounds like a drunk fashionista singing casually. Check out Nouvelle Vague's acoustic version of This is not a love song and the original noisy This is not a love song by PiL

They had redone Love will tear us apart in the similar way. Love will tear us apart by Nouvelle Vague from the original

Forgotten memories

Sometimes "remembering" forgotten memories is like stumbling across a memory location (or the base address of an array) never accessed for decades. Once you "remember" such a forgotten memory, a chain of memories come along with it. I am experiencing that now.While cleaning my shelves, I found these

Trigger#1 : My pocket oxford dictionary - 1987

It was 1987. I was in the 3rd standard. It was my Upanayanam and I had invited my teacher Mariam Begum for my Munji. She did not come. I was expecting her. Then after sometime at 2:30 she came. She was my favorite teacher (at that point of time). She gave me a present which I had treasured throughout my school life. It was a pocket oxford dictionary. I also learnt my first few "bad words" in 6th standard using that book (also had shown that book to Shiva and Naveena). I had randomly stumbled across these bad words and shown these words to Naveena and Shiva who had commented that dictionary can also be used to learn bad words.I shall keep this for the rest of my life.

My stamp stock book

It must have been 1991,1992 time frame. If you did not have stamp collection as your hobby, you were uncool in our area. I was a stamp collector - Manja was my stamp collection partner for sometime, but he soon lost the interest. After seeing Jayasimha's collection , I was inspired like hell. His "Jamaica stamp" and his "Ethiopia stamp" had driven me insane. I wanted such stamps. The name Jamaica sounded exotic to me. I remembered the Cadbury's Old Jamaica chocolate with raisins. I had collected so many stamps, exchanged matchbox covers to stamps (and vice versa), asked my elder brother Sujay to give me his stamps. My stamp collection is really respectable now. I really have old stuff (but they maybe damaged but they are valuable for sure) :-

-India Under British (1.5 Annas stamp)
-Ceylon stamp (5 cents)
-Colonial Mauritius
-Uganda,Kenya and Tanganyika under British (a postage serving three African countries - Have a lot(6) of these....I am thinking eBay ;-) )
-Colonial Malta
-British Guiana
-Surinam, Cyprus, Greece...wow!
-Congo under Belgium!
-An old stamp says "Principalty of Thomond" no idea where it is from.

But I will keep this for sometime :-) Feeling happy

The three idiots

are the director, scriptwriter and Chetan Bhagat. Real smart idiots, though. All jokes "engineered" to perfection and make a commercial script. Chetan Bhagat for acting silly after the movie is released. My rating is 2.5 / 5.

Rajkumar Hirani, the man:
The Munna Bhai movies as well as this movie, is his superficial understanding of the way "things work" in some field, be it medicine or engineering. I cannot comment on Medicine. I do not want to comment on "Education" also right away. But nowadays I cannot stand these commercial scripts. This script is more like a Sudha or a Taranga magazine's ooha-pooha.

I somehow prefer scripts like "Rocket Singh - Salesman of the year" - There is some honesty in the story. They do not go overboard or preachy like your Munnabhai or Rancho. After seeing Raja Sen's review of 3 idiots, I thought, Raja was just going overboard after being mesmerized by Avatar. But it's true. 3 idiots is not a movie for me. It is a farce. It is an ignorant view of an Engineering College Life.

Education system is rot in India. That's true. But everyone is not a Thomas Alva Edison. What about for the rest of junta ? Also, what is this obsession with "Engineers -> Wild Life Photographers" metamorphosis. Is that the only "different" occupation the director could think of ? We've seen too many of this type lately.

I look forward for Abhay Deol's Road Movie. The trailer looks awesome. The critics are all praise to this one. No idea when this is gonna be released.

Agreed that even Cameron's Avatar movie is not something VERY different. The same aliens v/s humans - The key difference which worked (as far as the story)was: The location is not Earth && humans are the villains, this time. Technically, the idea of using 3D really was a bold and a visionary step. Using 3D for horror will create wonder IMO. Bollywood can make a Phoonk 3D or something.

I agree that an eminent star passed away.But then, declaring a state holiday is one thing which can happen only in India. And then after that, people go on rampage burning buses and police vans and damaging public property. I think there must be some political motive as Kumaraswamy blames the BJP government for not handling things properly.

Bangalore brings out its stupidity in times such as these.

Whatever.

I wanted to write a longish post on Vishnuvardhan's movies. But my interest has sapped because of these kinds of riots and the like.

RIP Vishnu

A very good actor and great looker (in his younger days). Two people Ashwath and Vishnu back to back in a matter of 1 day. Definitely, a big loss to the Kannada industry.

I'm planning a bigger post on Vishnu movies.

Avatar

Yes people, who are reading this, would have seen Avatar by now. I liked the movie. It was a good movie, nothing new about the whole movie. But I was interested in the bio diversity aspect. I was able to guess raising the dead part of the movie. But Cameron has a knack of making blockbusters. If there is a sequel to the Avatar movie, I guess the "Data Network of Pandora" will have a major role in the sequels.

One guy has covered the Science Aspects of Avatar. This is worth a read if you are a sci-fi buff. Check out this article : Science of Avatar

The beatles were saying "All you need is love" and then there was Morrison going "Light my Fire, Honey".

Here is a video from the Doors band about how the most famous song of the Doors "Light my Fire" was born. It was written by Rob Krieger. Very interesting analysis and highly recommended if you a Doors fan.

Then they talk about the Ed Sullivan Show stunt which increased the popularity of The Doors as rebels. We did'nt do what they told us. They did not want us to say "higher".

Jim was probably one of the most charismatic singers in a very enigmatic way. Nowadays there are no rockstars. There are just singers who are ruled by record labels and all this twitter, my space , facebook association to music ...Well, I'm sounding old!

The Story of "Light My Fire" by The Doors

small notes to interested people....

This tinyurl thing could become a menace. Email filters from postini , iron port could be rendered useless and all harmful links can be tiny url'ed away to mask identity. One solution could be having email filters fighting harmful urls from the tiny url servers itself. Hmmm....whatever, I try to avoid clicking tinyurls as much as I can. The identity is masked and the urls look like they can harm your computer.

Other than that, met GD gaaru who is in Bangalore for this and the next week. Nice to see him after one year. Had been to Vidyarthi Bhavan (the first time so after 2007). They have changed the look and feel, and it looks more presentable. It was in a terrible shape the last time I had been there. Now with tiles, it looked very cool.

Bird of Prey

Jim Morrison had recorded one of his eccentric/shady "poems" with absolutely no music. Fatboy Slim takes that sample and adds a remix and a really powerful video about war.

Very impacting video.

Fatboy Slim - Bird of Prey

One of my fave directors are ...

The Coen Brothers. I like their Dark Comedies. There are two really good movies which are going to be released :- Avatar (created by the indefatigable James Cameron) and then we have A Serious Man (by the Coen Brothers).

The Coen Brothers have a very distinct comic flavor in their movies. Many people did not find The Big Lebowski - funny. Burn After Reading was good and it was funny, but not great, imo.

Coming back to "A serious man", this will be a must watch. Interesting fact is that they have used a 60s song by Jefferson Airplane - Somebody to Love.

The lyrics are powerful :-

When the truth is found to be lies
And all the joy within you dies
Don't you want somebody to love ?

and then later

Tears are running down and down and down your breast
And your friends, baby they treat you like a guest
Don't you want somebody to love, don't you...

Check out the pure 60s style music video of Somebody to Love by Jefferson Airplane with the lead singer dressed as a nun. Imagine the furore it might have created those days. Jim Carrey , the actor has covered this song Somebody to Love by Jim Carrey

Looking fwd for these movies .... Serious Man and Avatar.

More states

is more better or worse ? you can argue on both sides.. people demanding for a new state feel they are ignored.. people resisting resist to avoid the split of natural resources, cross state tensions etc.. there is no one way or the other to support or oppose.. complex issues.. but I am surprised the way and when it happens.. a politician who has failed in the recent past (in assembly and central elections) goes on a hunger strike, students join the protest and 12 days later we have a new state .. supported by the fact that it should have been done 55 years ago .. Why did this not happen for any of the preceding 55 years. Is it okay for the people to be ignored for 55 years, but care for a politician going on hunger strike for 12 days..

now comes a chain reaction, vidharba, bundhlkand, bodo etc etc etc .. we might need double the number of states... smaller regions might lead to more better administration ??

http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?670876

The New Generation is here

Ruchira and Sudeep are proud parents to a very very beautiful girl. Congratulations !

Give way, to the New Generation.

A very warm Welcome

Two Indias

India has certain schisms. The most common of which is the Urban India vs Rural India. Many of the Indians who are born/brought up in the Suave cities do not understand the travails of the Villagers. I always find myself amused when someone "Discovers" in their late 20s or 30s about the segregation of societies in villages or lack of lavatories. You almost always chuckle inside. The struggles for the rural Indians are never a priority for the country. As always the 80-20 rule holds good. 80% of people (rural) strive or sacrifice to make the lives of 20% (urbanites) better.

http://www.livemint.com/2009/12/03220216/Their-farmers-our-farmers.html?h=D

Sophisticated

Is the word which comes out when I watch this video.

It's twilight time. Boy says something to the girl in the golden yellow sunset and makes a quick exit. The girl goes into self introspection and walks towards the sea. The music is a total dope. And then, she sniffs out a tear drop and looks at a locket and finally smiles. The smile is sooo innocent :-) Watch the video for the smile

Beautiful.

Watch the music video : Air - Le Voyage De Pénélope

Downtempo is utilized very well.

I have not read Chetan Bhagat but,

this is an interesting observation :-

....As you grow older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, all kids want Ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you still are a lot like your friends. But ten years later and you realize you are unique. What you want, what you believe in, what makes you feel, may be different from even the people closest to you.

Read his speech at symbiosis

Rains

These 2 months is about rain. It's been raining. I remember the day when I was drenched to the bone; big water droplets splashing my helmet. It was exhilarating->later too much-> later terrifying->later hysterical. The shout, the choke.

Just made me realize how much of an instinctive person I am. The logical part of my brain told me "I do not have common sense". The animal instinct part told me to do something instinctive/irrational. Even if it meant soaking my laptop, skidding and falling in the slimy mud.

Work

I've always been this sort of a person at work:

Think ->Think->.....Until I become tired and impatient to think further and no decision is taken. Then do something because no decision has been reached and there is no more time. The "do" part , well, it happens. If I were a king in the 17th century, I would have been like a bloody Tuglaq.

And I am tired of seeing better people at work. I need to get acquainted to more people like me at work. I work hard and still do something idiotic. Hope all this irritation ends.

Why are we proud of our Democracy?

Democracy has been the "beacon of light" for Indians over the past 60 years to hide behind massive corruption, poverty and a divisive society. I do not know whether we are seriously any better off compared to the Chinese regime or say the likes of Iran/Venezuela. We always project our freedom of press, speech, and human rights and cover our fallacies behind. But in reality the democracy just works for political parties.

There is no single party which gets to exploit the country and this is where the true democracy plays. As per its citizens they are still at the mercy of the politicians and hence there is no freewill or freedom. Politics takes over priority under the disguise of "broader goodness". So it becomes a priority to

a. resolve the party crisis compared to work on flood relief

b. protect your ally at the expense of $100 billion to the ex-chequer

c. keeping the alliance CM protected while he loots the state's natural resources

d. massacre the downtrodden, uneducated dalits and tribals by terming them naxalities and redistributing the nations's wealth to a few companies in which some ministers have special interests

e. exporting rice reserved for the BPL people to Africa in the name of aid and thereby enabling some trader to make Rs 2000 crore in the process

f. Dropping charges against your predecessors even if they have siphoned off crores of money in the past decades

g. using a non-corrupt PMs face and be massively corrupt in all other functions

h. exploit the north east India in the name of national development without providing any regional development

and the list goes on and on .. ( this is just a mini list that can be traced to in the last few months)

So as it seems, if in a democracy if you are not in a function to exploit the nation (politics or government or businesses / persons who can influence politics/govt ) then you are just a vote. It does not matter if you support the UPA, NDA or the third front. Everyone is a mini Chinese communist party with no major achievements (at least the CCP can claim economic progress at the cost of its people and country).

but there is still hope for light at the end of the tunnel !!! ... JAI HO !!!